I'm a potential new seller on Amazon looking to sell food product that my family manufactures internationally. I'm selling 2 flavors of rice mix with different quantity (single pouch, 6 pack a 12 pack).
I created a seller account and since then, I've had issues upon issues.
First, I had to get GS1 codes for my product which took time . That was finally completed recently with the various GTIN codes printed on the pouches and the packs of multiple pouches.
Listing description issues: Next, I created the listing on Amazon. However, trying to create variations was an issue from day one with some of the packs becoming part of the variation and others not becoming part of it. I'd make changes to the listing and none would stick. There was no rhyme or reason as to which changes worked and which didn't. Up till now, months later, some of my listings are still not part of the variation despite me making changes a bunch of times. Even worse, some of my listings show pictures of toilets (instead of my uploaded images). And if I try to make any changes to the listing, Amazon doesn't save it and I now at times even get errors because I can't make changes. Despite me being the manufacturer and the product not existing elsewhere on Amazon. A true mess making the listings
Seller Verification: All of a sudden, my account is inactive and I need to do my seller verification again. I've uploaded my US license and I failed the seller verification for reasons unknown to me. I suspect it's because I have a long first name and my license doesn't have all the characters of my first name. No way to fix that! I then uploaded my US Passport and that failed also (I was told it wasn't signed) despite me only uploading the bio page that doesn't have anywhere to be signed. Anyways, I've tried again so hopefully third time is the charm.
Amazon Shipment: This is the worst part of my experience so far. I shipped a total of 1530 pouches in the first flavor and 510 pouches in the second flavor (in various pack sizes). I was extremely meticulous about the shipment to match exactly what I told Amazon and use the right shipment box labeling. At this point, Amazon's record of my shipment is a complete mess. Amazon claims to have received a total of 1636 pouches in the first flavor and 495 pouches in the second (much more overall than I shipped). And the amount of various packs received is all over the place with some lower and some higher.
Defects: Amazon claims some of my shipments didn't have barcodes which is just false. They now want to dismiss them because they're defective. I've opened a dispute about this so hopefully it gets resolved. But not holding out hope because they don't even have correct records of what I shipped.
At this point, I'm wondering if trying to sell on Amazon is always this difficult. I find it incredible that I've had these many issues on first try with support for the most part unable to help. Should I expect this to typically be the case? Is there something I can do differently going forward? I expected Amazon to be the kings of logistics so this is very disappointing.
